There's Always Hope
by Just Sumone
Summary: Tony DiNozzo gets shot on the job, and no one ever said that what he does is risk free. But if he dies, who will look after his little sister? After all, he is the only thing she has in this world. Well, that is unless you count her God Father, one Leroy Jethro Gibbs. This is a fluff story about my favorite character on NCIS. Don' worry, no character deaths. Please enjoy.
1. When bad things happen

**Okay, hi readers! It actually rained today! Like, allot. So I just settled down and watched tv with my dad, and of course we watched NCIS! I had this great idea for this one episode, and decided my favorite character needed a fluff chapter. I DON'T OWN NCIS OR IT'S AWESOME PEOPLE, only the OC I put in here. So, enjoy and stuff.**

The sniper ran from the building and Gibbs had been right. It was the water guy. Tony DiNozzo got out of the car and sprinted after the shooter. The guy took off towards and alley where Tony suspected he had his truck.

Hopefully the FBI agents were doing their jobs and were actually ready for him there. He turned into the alley and Tony followed. "STOP! NCIS!" Tony yelled at him. The FBI were ready, all the way on the other side of the alley.

Tony ran after the shooter while the FBI came at him from the other alley mouth. The man stopped in the middle of us and turned to look at me. "Put the gun down and put your hands behind your head!" Tony called as he leveled his gun at the shooters chest.

The gleam in the shooters eyes was wicked as he pointed the gun at the two FBI agents standing twenty feet away. "NO!" Tony yelled, jumping forward and pulling the trigger of his gun.

It all happened in one split second. The two agents dove to the ground, Tony shot the man, and the man turned his gun on Tony at the last minute and fired. Leroy Jethro Gibbs could only watched as he skidded around the corner of the truck to see someone he though of as a son fall to the cement.

"DINOZZO!" Gibbs screamed sprinting to the fallen mans side and dropping to his knees on the hard stone. Ignoring the blood seeping into the knees of his pants he gently rolled Tony DiNozzo over and placed a hand firmly over the gunshot wound.

Kate ran up them and crouched beside Gibbs. "I called 911. Is he going to make it?" she asked cradling Tony's head gently. Gibbs looked up at Kate with his usually so sharp grey eyes now filled with tears. "He damn well better be! I did not give him leave of absence, nor will I anytime soon."

Kate could here the bitter grief in her boss's voice and her heart ached. He knew Tony much better than her; she had no idea how deep their friendship went. To see him now, kneeling over his dying friend, it was her heart was being constricted by something.

Sirens sounded in the distance, getting louder. Kate brushed away a tear as she asked, "Does he have any family? That you know of anyway?" Gibbs nodded as he tried to stop the bleeding.

"A little sister. She's in Elementary school, he's raised her since she was seven months old because her mother died of cancer and he father was never in the picture." He said, bowing his head as the ambulance came into sight.

"Tony is all that little girl has. Oh God." Kate whispered in anguish. The next few hours passed in a blur as the paramedics took over. Tony was taken to the hospital and put into critical surgery immediately and Kate called Ducky and Abby.

Gibbs was sitting in a plastic waiting room chair when his phone rang. He looked at the familiar number on his screen. It was Cassie's Day Care, calling because Tony was late to pick her up to go home. Tears spilled down his cheeks as he pressed answer.

"Hello?" he gasped. "_Hello Mr. Gibbs, is Tony around? It's seven o'clock, and he still isn't here to pick up Cassie. Is everything alright?_" Mrs. Pampa said in her light tone.

Gibbs's heart felt like it was being crushed by a 5 ton weight.

"I'm s-so sorry." Was all Gibbs could say before he finally broke down. He remember meeting Tony's sweet little sister for the first time very well right then. He had taken her to work with him because the Day Care was closed for the day, and she had hugged him the minute she saw him.

_Leeroy Jethro Gibbs had just started drinking his coffee when the elevator doors opened. _It's about time DiNozzo showed up for work._ Gibbs thought as they closed again. _Huh, that's odd. _Gibbs stood up and walked around his desk and through the bullpen._

_There in front of the elevator stood a four year old girl in camouflage pants, green shirt, brown hat, camouflage backpack, and small combat boots. It was a rather adorable sight, but Gibbs needed to find out who she was. She seemed familiar somehow._

_The little girl looked up at him and her face lit up in recognition. She dropped her backpack and squealed in delight as she ran across the five foot gap the separated her and Gibbs. She threw her arms around his waist and clasped her ands together behind his back._

"_You're Tony's bossy!" she cried happily, hugging his waist tighter. He had been surprised at first, but a smile was soon visible on his face. "That I am. And who might you be?" he said, crouching at her level._

"_Cassie? Are you in here? Cassie?" Tony DiNozzo's voice cam from around the corner as he did. The second he saw the dark haired girl his face lit up in relief. "She ran to the elevator and pushed the up button before I could get there. Sorry." He said, smiling apologetically._

"_That's fine DiNozzo, but what if she had been a suspect and you had let her get away? You can practice with everyday things. Next time, make sure you keep her close to you. Who is she anyway?" Gibbs said, straitening up._

"_I'm his lil sisser! Cassie!" the fair skinned girl chimed as she threw herself at her brother. Gibbs's smile turned into a grin at the girls antics. "That's wonderful, but why are you here at his job huh?" Gibbs asked the girl and her brother._

"_Her Day Care is closed today, and no one else could take her for the day. Sorry boss. I had no choice but to take her with me. It was either that or not come to work today." Tony said, hugging his little sister._

"_Buh Tony! You pomissed me you wood take me to your job to meeh your bossy!" the girl said with fire in her light blue-green eyes. Gibbs's grin was about split his face in half as the siblings talked._

_Well, Cassie told him off for lying to her while Tony apologized and 'hey-ed'. "Well Cassie, I'm sure your first time to NCIS headquarters is very special to you, would you like a tour?" Gibbs said to the little girl as she turned away from her brother and crossed her arms._

"_Ooh! Yes peese! Fun, fun, fun!" the excited girl bounced up and down in front of the elevator that had closed in her brothers face minutes ago. Tony straitened up and grabbed the backpack on the floor._

"_Hello? Mr. Gibbs?_" Mrs. Pampa said through the phone that now lay on Gibbs's lap as he cried, remembering. It had been four years since that day, and Tony had brought her in after that, but before Kate started working for them, he had found her a babysitter for the days when the Day Care would be closed.

She was such and innocent beautiful little girl who loved her brother more than anything in the whole world. She had also found a special place in Gibbs's heart. When she was six, Tony had made Gibbs's her God Father.

Kate walked into the waiting room to see Gibbs's sobbing into his hands. "Gibbs, oh Gibb's, don't give up. There's still a chance that he'll be okay!" Kate said in a sad voice. She sat down beside him and noticed the phone in his lap.

"I'm Cassie's God Father, a-and she loves me and I want nothing more than to become her dad, but she loves T-Tony so, so much. What am I supposed to tell her? S-she may loose the one thing she always had." Gibbs sobbed.

Kate looked down at her hands and sniffed. "There's always hope." She said, looking over at Gibbs. His shoulders shook, but he was starting to calm down. He truly did think of Tony as his son.

He wiped away the tears on his face with his handkerchief and picked up the phone again. "Mrs. Pampa? Are you still there?" Gibbs asked into the phone. His voice was still a little shaky, but he wasn't a mess anymore.

"_Yes I'm here, what happened, I heard crying, is everyone okay?_" her voice was laced with worry. "I'm coming to pick up Cassie right now. I'll see you in ten minutes." Gibbs said before he hung up the phone and stood up.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Kate asked him gently. "No, you need to stay here so you can keep in touch with the doctors and how the surgery is going." Gibbs said, turning around to face her.

She nodded and he walked out of the waiting room, down the hall and out the front door. He got into the NCIS SUV and put the key into the ignition. What was he going to tell Cassie?

**Okay! That is a pretty short chapter, but I want to work on a different story I've been working on. I actually started a story the day I first saw NCIS, but it's still in progress. Plus, this one was so much fun to write, and I needed to write it before the episode details slipped my mind. I hope you enjoyed reading. Please review!**


	2. You just need to stick together

**Hi again readers/reviewers/seekers-of-fictional-knowledge-about-NCIS/awesome-people. Thanks for reading this, really. Remember that reviewing is wanted, loved, adored, beloved, ect. So review and I'll dance around my house like a lemur on crack. Please enjoy this chapter. I DO NOT own NCIS or any of its characters. Just Cassie DiNozzo, my OC.**

**P.S. Thanks to reviewers Long Live BRUCAS and BnBfanatic. You guys are great!**

Gibbs exhaled deeply as he shifted the car into park in the lot of Mrs. Pampa's Day Care. He looked down at his hands and curled the left one into a tight fist. _You have to be brave for Cassie Leroy._ He unbuckled the seatbelt and opened the door.

The night air was cool and a little sweet, nice late spring weather. Gibbs found he couldn't enjoy it at all, and he walked briskly, yet hesitantly towards the light blue building.

He lifted his hand to knock on the door and it opened before he had the chance. "Gibbs! Nana told me you'd come to pick me up!" Cassie DiNozzo said from her position wrapped around the gray haired man.

Mrs. Pampa smiled from the doorway. Cassie pulled away and twirled around, her long, dark hair bouncing around her shoulders under the white knit hat she wore. For some reason, the hat had black ears on it.

"Where's Tony, chasing the bad guys and being grossed out by Ducky and his sense of humor?" Cassie asked with mirth clear in her eyes.

Seeing her so happy felt like a punch in the gut, because Gibbs knew he was about to make all that happiness disappear. He sighed heavily, nodded to Mrs. Pampa, and lead Cassie to the SUV.

Once they were sitting in the car, Gibbs took a deep breath. How do you start to tell someone something like this? "Cassie, do you know what kind of risks your brother takes every time he's on a case?" he asked her, looking straight ahead through the windshield.

Cassie shifted in her seat unconsciously. "Um, I know he could get hurt, or kidnapped, or lost, especially lost… but not really no. He doesn't like to talk about the risks he takes because he doesn't like to upset me." She said suspiciously.

Her narrowed eyes softened as she smiled slightly. "But I know that as long as you're there, he'll always be okay. You're like our dad, always there for us." Her sincere blue-green eyes stared up at him, trying to gain eye-contact.

Gibbs hated himself in that moment, for having to do this, for not being fast enough to get there when Tony did, for sending him alone with only FBI agents for backup, and mostly, for breaking the unending trust Cassie had in him.

"Cassie, Tony's in the hospital, and I don't know if he is going to live or die. I let him down, I let both of you down, and if he doesn't pull through this, I will never forgive myself." You could have heard a pin drop in the deafening silence in the black SUV at that moment.

"You-you didn't protect him? You let him get hurt? W-why would you do that? I… I need to know what happened." Cassie was such a strong girl, you could try to push her down all you want, but she would never yield, even though she was clearly upset that Gibbs hadn't been there for her brother.

"He was chasing a sniper, and I let him go without backup. Without me." Gibbs said sorrowfully. Cassie punched his arm gently. "It's not your fault. Even though Tony doesn't talk about his work allot, I still know that sometimes you have to give chase, even if the risks are high."

She turned his face so she could meet his gaze. "I know that you can't always be with him, so don't you dare blame yourself. The important thing to do now is to find out how Tony is now." She was so strong and mature for an eight year old. Tony was a good guardian.

Gibbs felt so emotional right then he almost lost it again, but Cassie was right. He needed to rein in his emotions because all that mattered right now was Tony. He nodded and put the car into gear.

The drive back to the hospital was a quiet one. Cassie cried silently for a while, Gibbs thought about what would happen if Tony left them, and the traffic from the home-bound workers was thinning quickly as the sun sank below the horizon.

Pulling into the parking lot of the hospital, Gibbs took a deep breath and opened his door. Stepping out he glanced over at Cassie as she climbed from the SUV. Long dark brown hair under a panda cap, long sleeve black jacket that stopped halfway down her torso revealing a white layer dress that ended at the knees where she was wearing black tights and her favorite black combat boots. Gibbs also noticed a fluffy black pompom on the back of her dress where her tailbone would be.

She caught him looking and smiled weakly. "It's a panda dress. Do you like it?" Cassie said as she twirled slowly. Gibbs returned the smiled and hugged her. "You look adorable." He whispered into the top of her head.

They walked into the hospital together and headed for the waiting room. Kate was sitting alone in the corner in a plastic chair pretending to read a book. When Gibbs and Cassie walked in she looked up.

"He's out of surgery, and he's resting. He's going to be okay, he's going to make it." Kate said breathlessly, jumping to her feet. Cassie's face brightened visibly and she hugged Gibbs, burying her head against his chest.

"I knew he wouldn't go down without a fight, he's too stubborn to just give up." Cassie mumbled against his coat. He smiled and let a stray tear travel down his cheek. A doctor came into the room and cleared his throat.

"Mr. DiNozzo is awake, and requesting to see one Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and one Cassidy Ara DiNozzo. He also said that Kate could come too." The middle aged man smiled at the trio.

Cassie frowned at her full name and shook her head. "I go by Cassie. Cassidy sound to much like a princess name. I'm more of an army girl." It was Gibbs's turn to shake his head. She was always so sure of herself.

The doctor smiled again and nodded, leading them to a hospital room and opening the door. Tony was lying propped up on a white hospital bed picking at the white wool blankets. He looked weak and exhausted.

"Tony!" Cassie exclaimed, running over to his bed and embracing her brother gently. "I'm so glad you're okay! Don't ever do this again! You made Gibbs cry!" she scolded half heartedly while Tony grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry boss. I'm sorry Cassie. I'm okay now though, you're not getting rid of me that easily." He joked slightly, kissing his sisters forehead. Gibbs walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down on the chair.

"I'm just happy that you're okay. But in the future, if you're about to get shot, just let him go. The whole area was surrounded by FBI agents; at least one of them would have been competent enough to shoot him." Gibbs said, smacking the back of Tony's head lightly.

Tony winced and chuckled. "Okay, noted. I will run away while I hold my skirts next time." He grinned. Cassie smacked the back of his again and growled, "Was that a sexist joke? What have I told you about saying stuff like that!?" Tony cringed but laughed happily.

Kate watched all of this from the foot of the bed. Seeing the three together, you could clearly see that they were a family. Gibbs was the stern but understanding father, Tony was the jokester older brother who loved his family unconditionally, and Cassie was the little girl who held them together, so strong, and so happy.

She took the seat next to Gibbs and smiled. "I'm glad you're a fighter Tony, other whys I'd have seen Gibbs having such a happy family moment!" Kate said as she snapped a picture with her phone and sent it to both Abby and Ducky.

Cassie laughed with Tony while Gibbs shook his head. It was so good to have family, Tony was his family, Cassie was his family, Abby, Kate, and Ducky were his family. Imagining life with out them, well it just wasn't possible.

A nurse came in and informed them it was time for Tony to rest half an hour later. After promising to be back tomorrow, Kate left, taking a taxi home. Gibbs and Cassie left after the nurse kicked them out ten minutes after they were supposed to have left.

Getting into the SUV once again, Gibbs drove home with Cassie, stopping at her and Tony's house for some clothes and toiletries. Cassie had her own room at Gibbs's house, but she usually didn't keep clothes there. She wore all of her clothes to often to have certain articles missing when she needed them.

Settling down on the couch with tea and hot cocoa Gibbs and Cassie talked about school, work, friends, foes, her views on sexism, and how many jokes Tony had cracked at the Hospital. Around ten thirty Gibbs sent Cassie to bed with a kiss on the cheek and headed down to the basement to work on his boat.

**I know it's not much longer than the first chapter, but I didn't want to get into anymore in this chapter. The next chapter will be a filler, info, and memory chapter! Enjoy it when I write it! Don't forget to review! =)**


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